Machine for tamping railroad-ties.



No. 727,013. PATENTED MAY 5, 1903.

E. G. SPRINGER.

MACHINE FOR TAMPING RAILROAD TIES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 22, 1902. 3

NO MODEL. 2 SHBETS-SHEET l.

QXKMQ m PATENTED MAY 5, 1903. no. SBRINGER. MACHINE FOR TAMPING RAILROADTIES.-

API'LIQATION FILED JULY 22. 1902.

' 2 sums-sum 2.

N0 MODEL.

gnuvmfoz attozncga witnesses 6 9? No. 727,013. Patented May 5, 1903.

UNITE STATES -PATENT OFFICE.

ERNEST o. SPRINGER, or MAsoN' CITY, IowA, Ass GNoR or oNE-I-IALF TOJOSEPH J. CLARK, or MAsoN CITY, IOWA.

MACHINE FOR TAMPING RAILROAD-TIES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0.727,013, datedMay 5,1903.

Application fiIedJ'uIy ZZ, 1902. Serial No. 116,530. (No model.)

To allwhom it may ohn'cern: p 1 Upon each side of the car or carriage 1are Be it known that I, ERNEST O. SPRINGER, a l ar ranged verticalstandards 3 3, rising from citizen of the United States, residing atMason the bottom of drop 2andsupporting horizon- Oity, in the county ofOerro Gordo'and State taltransverse beams'4c4, suitably spaced apart 55of Iowa, have invented certainnew and useful and carrying at each end abeam 5, arranged Improvements in Machine's for Tamping Rail-'longitudinally of the car, but transversely of road-Ties; and I dohereby declare the followthe beams 4t. Carried by the ends of each oflog to be a full, clear, and exact description the beams 5 are guides 6,formed with pawls of the invention, such as will enable others 7 7,controlled by suitable levers 8 8, adapted 60 IO skilled in the art towhich it appertainsfto to engage notches 9 9'in the beam 5.'

make and use the same. f Between the beams 4, near each end thereof, Thepresent invention relates to improveis arranged a vertical cylinder 10,provided ments in mechanism for use in railwaycom' with asuitable pistonheadll, carryinga verstruction,and more particularly tosuch melcli-Qtically-moved piston 12, which in turn carries 65 I5 anism employed fortamping or spiking purthe beam13, parallelwith and placed above poses.the beam 5. The beam 13, as will be appar- The object in view is theprovision of means ent from Fig. 4., is made up preferably of two fortamping a railway road-bed or for spiking parallel plates 13 spacedapart and secured the rails to the ties, means being provided fortogether by a center web 13, which Web is 70 2o adjusting the tampingmeans to various anapertured at 13 for receiving the piston 12, gles. vsaid piston and web being rigidly secured With this and other objects inview the intogether. The plates 13 are formed with vention consists, incombination with a suit-: longitudinal slots 15 and a. series ofaperable carriage, of tamping means arranged: tu'res13 for purposeshereinafter mentioned. 75 2 5 thereon and guides for said tamping meansEach end of the beam 13 carries an adj ustablyfor securing the same invarious adjustments. ,mounted cylinder 14, pivotally attached to a Itfurther consists, in combination with a transverselyarrangedsupporting-lever15, suitable carriage,ofa tamping-p1ungermountwhichextends through its respective slots 13 ed thereon, means forreciprocating said plunand forms supporting-bearings for said cylin- 8o0 ger, a framework carrying said plunger, a der. Each lever 15 isprovided with any suitguide supporting'said framework, and means ablepawl 16 for engaging one of the aperfor adjusting said guide to variousposi-' tures 13 forlocking the cylinder 14 in any tions. adjustedposition against lateral movement.

It also consists in certain other novel con- Extending downwardly fromeach cylinder 8 structions, combinations, and arrangements l tis asuitable framework 17, formed with of parts, as willbe'herinafterfullydescribed guideways fora tamping-plunger 18, which andclaimed. plunger is connected to a suitable piston 19,

In' the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 carried by a piston-head 20within the cylinrepresents a top plan view of a tamping or der 14. Theframework 17 fits within its re- 0 4o spiking mechanism embodying thefeatures spective guide 6 and is adapted to be adjusted of the presentinvention, parts being broken ftowvarious planes by the adjustment ofsaid away. Fig. 2 represents a View in sideel'eguide longitudinally ofits beam 5, the framevation of the same. Fig. 3 represents a dework 17swinging upon the pivot of the cyltail view of the tamping-plungers.Fig. 4 repinder 14:, the guide 6 being pivotally attached 5 resentsadetail View of the tamper-supporting to its-adj usting-lever 8. Eachcylinder 14 is beam. i provided with'an intake-port 20, preferablyReferring to the drawings by numerals, 1 connected by anysuitabl'eflexible connection indicates any suitable carriage, preferably in withany suitable source of supply, a slide 21 the form of a car providedwith the usual controlling the admission of pressure to the r00 flangedwheels and formed with a drop or decylinder through said port. A bracket22 is pending portion 2 intermediate of its length. secured, preferably,to the end of the cylinder 14 and carries a pivotally-mounted operatingarm 23,attached to a bell-cranklever 24,which has its free end -slottedand engaging the stem of the valve 21 and inclosing any suitable studcarried by said stem. A suitable bracket 26 guides the movement of thefree end of the stem 25, and a suitable spring 27 is interposed betweensaid bracket 26 and the slotted end of said bell-crank lever. Asuitablespring 29 is arranged, preferably longitudinally ofthe piston-rod 19,within the framework 17 and connected with said rod for moving the samelongitudinally upward.

A red 28 extends upwardly from the piston 19 and engages the lower faceof operatingarm 23, so that the upward pull of spring 29 normally causessaid rod 28 to lift arm 23 and admit steam into the cylinder 14.Immediately upon such admission of steam the piston 19 moves downwardly,permitting the spring27 to act on lever 24 and close the intake 20, atthe same time opening any suitable eXhaust-port, which may be a commontube, as indicated in Fig. 2, the valve not being shown. By thisarrangement it will be seen that when pressure is supplied to theintake-port 2O the piston 19 will be automatically reciprocated withcomparatively short strokes and in rapid succession.

Each beam 5 rests by weight upon beams 4 4 and may be moved laterallythereon.

Suitable supply-pipes 30 30 lead to the respective ends of each of thecylinders 10, suitable three-way valves 31 31 being interposed in thelength of said supply-pipes and provided with operating-handles 32 32for controlling the admission of pressure to said cylinder. It will thusbe seen that pressure'may be'introduced into each cylinder 10 forliftingthebeam 13 carried thereby and with it the plungers 18 and theiroperating mechan ism, so as to raise the same to a horizontal planeabove the rail upon which the wheels of the car or carriage rest. Thebeams 4 4 are provided with rack-bars 33 33, and each beam 5 is providedwith a pinion 34, meshing with its respective rack-bar 33, any suitablemeans, as a crank 34*, being provided for r0- tating said pinion,whereby the parts raised by'the movement of the piston-head 11, as abovedescribed, will be moved inahorizontal plane for the required distance.After such movement the valve 31, controlling the supply to theloweirend of the cylinder 10, may be reversed for permitting the exhaustof the steam from the cylinder, and pressure may then be admitted intothe opposite end of the cylinder for bringing the parts down to theirnormal horizontal plane.

In practice I may provide any suitable pressure-supply tanks 35 35 ormay employ any other source of supply for the operation of the partsdescribed.

It is believed that the operation of the present improved tamping orspike device will be readily comprehended, the same being somewhat asfollows: The car or carriage 1 is moved by means of a motor carriedthereby or any other suitable source of power to the point of operation,when the piston-head 11 is forced to the lower end of the piston 10,bringing the tarnping-plungers 18 into position upon their respectivesides of the tie. Fluid-pressure is supplied to the cylinders 14, aseries of short rapid strokes of the plungers is produced, and theroad-bed will be readily tamped, the movement of each pair oftamping-plungers being preferably approximately simultaneous, so'as-tocrowd the ballast or other substance in opposite directions beneath therail at the same time. When it is desired to employ the device as aspiking means, it is only necessary to raise the plungers 18 to aslightly higher plane and cause them to strike the heads of the spikesto be driven. If it is desired to alter the angle or incline of theplunger 18, the guide 6 is moved longitudinally of the beam 5 and lockedin position by the pawl'7 engaging the desired notch of the series ofnotches 9. However, it may be found desirable to swing the lower end ofthe plunger 18 to an angle greater than will be permitted by theadjustment of the guide 6, and the same is accomplished by a movement ofthe cylinder 14, the lever 15 being slid along its respective slot 13 Itwill be seen that by this means the camping-plunger may be moved from adiagonal plane in one direction to a plane of an equal angle in theopposite direction, a great deal of freedom thereby being permitted inthe use of the tampers, whereby the tamping of the road-bed is greatlyfacilitated. It will be further observed that each'plunger 18 may by theproper adjustment of its supporting parts be caused to assume a verticalplane and may be reciprocated while in such plane, so as to moreeffectually perform the spiking operation when desired. When the bed hasbeen sufliciently tamped on one side of a rail, the beam 13 may belifted through the movement of the piston 12, whereby the plungers 18may be raised above the horizontal plane of the rail, and the entiremechanism may be caused to move laterally through the operation of thegear 34 meshing with the rack 33. When the parts have been movedlaterally the desired distance, the beam 13 may be dropped and thetampers set into operation.

Although the details of one particular embodiment of a tamping mechanismhave been specifically set forth, yet it will be understood that anysuitable changes or minor variations therefrom may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the in- Vention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a tamping or spiking mechanisn1,the combination with a suitablecarriage or car, of a plunger arranged thereon, a framework pivoted toswing from an inclined plane in ICC one direction to a'similar plane inanother direction, and carrying said plunger, and means forreciprocating the plunger longitudinally Within said framework,substantially as described.

2. In a tamping or spiking mechanism, the combination with a suitablecarriage or car, of a plunger mounted thereon, a pivoted frameworkcarrying the same, means for reciprocating said plunger longitudinallyof said framework, and means for moving said framework upon its pivotfrom an inclined plane in one direction to an oppositely-inclined plane,substantially as described.

3. In a tamping or spiking mechanism, the combination with a suitablesupport, of a pair of reciprocating plungers, a pivoted frameworkcarrying each of the same, and means for moving the plungers in theirrespective framework in downwardly-converging planes, each of saidframeworks being capable of being. swung upon its pivots sufficiently tocause the plungers to reciprocate in downwardly-diverging planes,substantially as described.

4. In a mechanism of the class described, the combination with asuitable support, of a framework arranged therein, a plunger findingguideways in said framework, a guide retaining said framework inposition, and means for adjusting said guide for positioning saidframework in various planes, substantially as described.

5. In a mechanism of the class described, the combination with asuitable support, of a beam arranged thereon, a guide carried thereby,means for adjusting said'guide longitudinally of said beam, and areciprocating plunger carried by said guide, substantially as described.

6. In a mechanism of the class described,

the combination with a suitable support, of a reciprocating plungercarried thereby, means for lifting said plunger to various horizontalplanes, and means for adjusting said plunger laterally, substantially asdescribed.

7. In a mechanism of the class described, the combination with asuitable support, of a. beam carried thereby, a reciprocating plungercarried by said beam, and means for adjusting said plunger and beamlaterally, substantially as described.

8. In a mechanism of the class described, the combination with asuitable support, of a beam mounted thereon, a reciprocating plungerpivotally carried by said beam, means for adjusting said plunger tovarious planes upon said pivot, and means for adjusting said beam andplunger laterally, substantially as described. V

9. In a mechanism of the class described, the combination with asuitable support, of a reciprocating plunger arranged thereon, a

framework carried by said plunger, means,

pivotally and slidably supporting said framework intermediate of itslength, a slotted beam, means pivotally connecting the free end of saidframework with said slotted beam, and means for reciprocating saidplunger, substantially as described.

10. In a mechanism of the class described, the combination with asuitable support, of a slotted beam carried thereby, a cylinder, meanscarried by said cylinder engaging the slot of said beam for supportingthe cylinder pivotally whereby the cylinder may be moved longitudinallyof the beam, a piston carrying said cylinder, a plunger connected withthe said piston, and means for guiding said plunger in its movement,substantially as described.

11. In a mechanism of the class described, the combination with asuitable support, of a beam arranged thereon, a beam arrangedtransversely of said beam and carrying a reciprocating plunger, arack-bar secured to said first-mentioned beam, and a gear-wheel securedto said second-mentioned beam meshing with said rack-bar, and means forrotating said gear for causing said second-mentioned beam with itsplunger to move laterally, substantially as described.

12. In a mechanism of the class described, the combination with asuitable support of a cylinder arranged thereon, a piston carriedthereby, tamping means controlled by said piston, a valve controllingthe intake pressure to said cylinder, an arm for actuating said valve inone direction, a spring normally pressing the said valve in an oppositedirection, and means controlled by said piston for actuating said armfor automatically effectin g reciprocation of said piston, substantiallyas described.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

ERNEST O. SPRINGER.

Witnesses:

EARL GARDNER, Tnos. LOOK.

